in the moments that could have been
by fedupwithfairytales
Summary: Where Rey isn't a Palpatine, Leia's death has meaning, and that ending doesn't happen.


In the moments that could have been

**Summary: **In which Rey is not a Palpatine, Leia's death has meaning, and that ending does not happen.

"Bring her to me."

Despite the rushing of his blood in his ears and the constant whirring noises of the machines around them, Kylo Ren could hear the command as clearly as his own thoughts, the very thoughts he was trying so hard to wrap his head around.

Emperor Palpatine was alive. His grandfather had not succeeded. This Sith Lord, a shell of a man that had been and yet still was, stood before him, propped up by a mechanical contraption that barely kept him alive. He had been every voice Kylo had heard since he was a child. Manipulated by ghosts and inventions conjured by an old man still clinging to power and lost hope. As incomprehensible as it may have seemed, he couldn't deny what was in front of him, nor could he ignore the promise of power that he was owed since he had denounced the Jedis and his family a long time ago.

"What use is she to us?" Kylo asked in earnest, though he already knew the answer. "She is a nobody."

"A very powerful nobody," Palpatine replied in turn, a sneer taking form on his distorted face. "We will make her join us or she will follow in the path of the Jedi before her. With her power and yours, the galaxy will understand what it means to serve, to be obedient. They will know the power of the Final Order. Now, can I rely on you for this simple task or will you continue to be a failure like your father?"

Kylo could not hide his displeasure at the comparison that was made, nor could he repress the faint traces of regret towards his actions to Han Solo. Without his mask, he struggled in vain to clamp down these feelings. He nodded, earning a smile from the Sith.

"Anything for the Final Order."

###

He knew she was close. He sensed her there on the deserted ship, had followed her from planet to planet, growing impatient as she continued to ignore his demands to meet in person. She was easy to find, much too easy for someone who knew she was being followed.

Kylo sensed her turmoil behind the doors of the room that held the second Sith Wayfinder. He could only imagine what images it had showed her. Still, he couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction at seeing her try to contain a surprised expression when she walked into the chamber and saw him stand before her.

"I won't let you have it."

He could almost laugh at her stubborn nature, watching as her grip tightened on the Wayfinder. Rey would not stand on ceremony. She knew what she wanted and would continue to give him a hard time, but still he tried in vain to make her see reason.

"Rey," he began slowly as if trying not to coax a startled animal. "By now you know that Emperor Palpatine still lives. He wants me to bring you to him."

Rey's expression turned to that of disgust. How could he say that with a straight face and not understand the tragic weight behind his words?

"You continue to serve masters who want nothing more than to watch the galaxy burn."

"I serve no one but myself."

Rey laughed bitterly. "And yet here you are, doing the bidding of Palpatine. How many have you let corrupt you and dictate your actions? When will you stop cowering behind the power of another?"

Kylo felt his blood begin to boil. Did she think he had a choice in the matter? She knew he had been raised on this very power, had been promised a world that should rightfully have been his had Luke not been afraid to raise a stronger generation of Jedi. He was born to rule and she would stand by his side.

"I am not doing the bidding of that old man," Kylo spat. "If you came with me, we could strike him down. Together. I told you that you were nobody but when we defeat Palpatine, you can be _somebody._ With me we will rule together. The most powerful Force users working as one."

"Your obsession with this dream has caused nothing but death and pain."

Kylo slowly approached her, jaw clenched. She did not back away but moved her hand to her saber, a gesture not lost on Kylo.

"Would it not have been that way regardless?" he continued. "You've said it yourself: I'm just a tool. My strength used for what Snoke—Palpatine believes to be a greater galaxy."

"What _you_ believe to be as well," Rey snarled.

Kylo continued his advance. He would make her understand. "Are you not a tool yourself?"

"I am no one's tool. Unlike you, I truly serve no one."

"But don't you?" He cocked his head. "The resistance? My mother? It's true I have caused many deaths for the cause. But how many have you caused for theirs? At the end of the day are we not just good little soldiers doing as we're told?"

"I am nothing like you," Rey cried, igniting her saber.

"Rey, we can finally be free, if only you joined me."

With a wave of his hand, the Wayfinder landed in his palm.

"You don't need this," he stated simply, crushing it in front of her. "But if you wish to find Palpatine then you will need me."

"You ignorant boy," Rey hurled her words as she hurled herself towards Kylo Ren.

That object was her last chance at finding and defeating Palpatine. Her last chance at helping the Resistance bring peace to the galaxy but within seconds it was gone, crushed like her hopes were beginning to be. She was not like Kylo Ren. She fought on the side of light and if he continued to stand in her way, and in the dark, then he too would need to be brought down like the First Order forces before him.

Their lightsabers met and their fight began.

###

Who knew how long they had battled, how they had ended up outside with the waves crashing around them? When did Kylo begin to fight back in earnest and when did Rey begin to lose sight of who she was?

Despite not knowing exactly how this would turn out, Rey fought with everything inside her. She relentlessly attacked the monster in black, losing herself to the rage she felt inside, to the anger she held towards him, to Snoke, to Palpatine, and their twisted minds.

"Let me go, Kylo. Let me finish this, for the good of everyone, the First Order rule needs to end."

With ease, Rey twisted herself away from Kylo, leaping into the air before another wave crashed upon them. She was vaguely aware of someone calling her name, but she would not be distracted, she would not lose.

"As long as you continue to live, you will continue to be hunted," Kylo explained as he followed her unrelentingly and landed a series of blows of his own.

Rey grunted under the force as his lightsaber pushed down on hers, the heat burning against her wet skin. She felt herself sinking to the ground. The anger that fueled her had quickly dissipated. What was it that made her so angry? His words had struck true. Were they both merely just weapons for a fight not their own? The ease at which he told her she was nobody only reminded her more of the somebody he was, of the family he had thrown away much like the people that had thrown her away.

In truth, she had no part to play in this battle. She could have easily hidden herself away and disappeared, but she had power and she had to use it. She would not sit by and watch the world burn when she could do something to help. If only Kylo had thought the same.

"I won't kill you if you join me," he repeated, pushing down harder on her saber.

Rey pushed up against him to no avail.

"You won't kill her."

The familiar voice did not come from either of them. Turning towards the sound, they both could not hold back the gasp that escaped them. Before them stood Leia—no, they realized. It was not her but simply her projection.

"Mom?" Kylo asked, the word falling easily from his lips despite the years of unused.

As he stood in shock, he loosened his grip on his saber causing it to shut off. As it did, Rey's own saber, free of the obstacle in its path, sunk down into Kylo's side. He barely even flinched, too fixated on his mother's presence.

"Ben," she said softly, looking down at his injury with little surprise, but concern nonetheless. "Look what's happened to you."

"What do you want?" he demanded, voice shaking slightly.

"For you to come home. To see the light. To help us take down Palpatine."

"How can I? I am not that man and you know it. We are not on the same side."

Rey watched as Leia reached a hand up to her son's cheek, her thumb stroking lightly as if she could actually touch him. "Always so confused. Although you aren't wearing it, you continue to hide behind a mask."

"You shouldn't be here," he responded knowingly, voice tinged with sadness. "You're using too much power."

Leia sighed. "I know. I'm afraid much like your uncle, my time is near an end."

Kylo's eyes widened. "And yet you've decided to waste it on a lost cause."

"You were never a lost cause. I should have trained you myself if I had known this was going to happen. Ben, you are the only one who knows where we can find Palpatine. Rey cannot defeat him on her own, though she _is_ quite strong."

Leia turned to smile at Rey who continued to remain fixed to the ground as she had been before. To see the general, her teacher, so desperately cling onto what her son could be, was too much to bear.

"I wish we had more time," Leia continued. "I wanted you to know that you can always do the right thing. No matter what we have done or been made to do, we can always choose hope. Your father knew this too."

At the mention of Han, Kylo's face fell, another reminder of the actions of his past. He had not yet forgiven himself for killing his father. It had all been in vain and he saw that now. All that was left was his father's ghost that haunted him every waking minute of his day, and often his dreams.

"I wish we had more time, Ben," Leia told him, smiling sadly at her son. "I want you to know that I am sorry, truly sorry for what you've been through. Rey too has been given such a life of pain that it is only fitting you do this together, to take down the source of it all."

Rey could feel tears welling in her eyes. How many more would she have to lose before this fight was over?

"Leia—," Rey began.

"Don't forget to put my son in his place, Rey. He's going to need it." Leia laughed and returned her gaze to her boy, her little Ben who had grown up so long ago and so far away. "Ben, just know that I forgive you."

With that she disappeared and with her so did the last remaining tie to a mother of both Rey and Ben. The Force let out a sigh as Leia let out her last breath.

As she did, so did Kylo too fall, the weight of his mother's death and the burning pain in his side, pushing him to the ground. He could feel himself fading and in truth, he wanted to go. He had caused so much pain. He didn't get to say goodbye, but maybe he will see his mother and father in the space between worlds.

Rey's tears came in earnest now as she watched the face of the monster crumble and take shape into that of a boy who had lost someone he loved.

Rey dragged herself over to him, their wet eyes meeting and truly seeing the person in front of them for the first time. Without a moment's hesitation, she lifted her hand to his injury. He could feel the pure energy radiating from her and the Force, but Ben could only sit helplessly by and watch in astonishment as his enemy healed him.

"Why?" he asked as his skin and muscles reattached. "You should want me dead. You've refused my hand and yet you help me."

Rey could see the confusion in his eyes that mirrored her own but if Leia was willing to die trying to save her son, then Rey would fulfill her final wish.

"I would not and will not take the hand of Kylo Ren," Rey answered, "but I will take the hand of Ben Solo. When that time comes."

Without another word, Rey stood up and ran, heading towards Ben's ship, away from her friends, and towards Exegol.

###

And so, using Ren's Wayfinder, Rey found herself in front of the notorious Emperor Palpatine. He was droning on about how he was the most powerful being in the universe and how he would win this war, a speech Rey had long grown tired of hearing.

"And you will be by my side," he finished, bringing Rey back into the conversation.

"I have come here to defeat you, not join you."

"What a waste of your talent that would be. You have easily evaded Kylo Ren despite all my training and efforts. You should be the one to rightfully take the throne."

"I would never join you. I am here to bring an end to the Final Order."

Palpatine laughed cruelly, opening the doors of the chamber to allow Rey a glimpse at the battle before her. "Your people are dying. They are no match to the power of my followers. If you joined me, you could stop it with one word."

Rey looked on as Resistance ships fell one by one. Whose lives had just been lost, she wondered as another explosion lit up the sky. As difficult as it was to turn herself away from the massacre before her, Rey turned to face the creature that was barely a man.

"I have hope that we will win."

"And will you do that by yourself?" he asked with a smirk. "Alone?"

"She is not alone," a voice sounded behind her, echoing slightly in the expanse of the chamber.

Ben Solo emerged, covered in blood. In his hands he held a saber not his own, but that of his mother.

"What a waste of such talent," Palpatine remarked with little passion but much disdain. "I suppose I will have to kill you both. Such a pity."

Without another second to waste, he began to draw on their energy, lifting them up into the air as he did so.

"Ah, a dyad in the force," he stated, dropping Rey and Ben's bodies to the ground with little grace, their sabers rolling away across the debri. "Your deaths will not only give me pleasure, but life as well and then I will rule it all."

Once more he drew on the Force within them until they had crumpled into nearly nothing on the cold stone, both at the end of their life and at his mercy. What fools they had been to think they would be enough to defeat him.

"Rey," Ben whispered, reaching out to the woman lying next to him. He had arrived too late, taken too long to see the light.

"Be with me," Rey breathed out, staring into the endless expanse of space. "Be with us."

As clear as she heard the cackling of Palpatine, Rey heard the voices of all the Jedi before her. Much to Ben's surprise he too heard the familiar sound of the Jedi from the stories, of his grandfather and uncle who had joined in to give them their strength.

"Your time has come," their voices whispered to them, coming from nowhere yet everywhere at once. "You will have the power of all the Jedi. You will restore the balance of the Force."

Slowly, the two fallen soldiers rose to their feet, putting a swift end to Palpatine's horrid laughter. Together, they called to their sabers and ignited them.

Palpatine's expression grew cold and without hesitation he shot lightening at the young woman who had been nothing but a nuisance since the day she had been born. His lightening, however, did not reach her as Ben Solo caught it in his saber, planting his feet into the grown to deflect the attack away from Rey.

With his other hand, Palpatine shot out another bolt of lightning, only for it too to be caught easily by Rey who felt a strength in her she had never known.

"Foolish children," Palpatine laughed. "You cannot defeat me for I have all the power. I am all the Sith."

Rey's grip tightened on her saber. "And we," she nodded to Ben before steeling her gaze on the enemy, "are all the Jedi."

In one swift movement, they pushed back the Emperor's attack directing all his energy towards himself. Sweat pouring down their necks, they watched his skin burn away, followed by muscle and bone, until there was nothing left, not even ash.

"We did it," Ben all but screamed with joy. "Rey we—"

Ben turned to find that Rey had collapsed to the ground. She had used more energy than him that day. If only perhaps she hadn't healed him, she would still have something left to make it through. He fell to the ground and brought her into his arms. She had begun to grow pale.

Ben looked around frantically and found that they were alone. No one would come to help. He knew he had to save her and only hoped he knew how. If anyone was to die, it should have been him. Who else had sinned so much that they could not be saved? He was not a good person, but Rey was.

Recalling his studies, Ben began to put all that was left in him in Rey. He rested his hand on her waist, feeling the Force leave him and heal the fallen woman, but he knew it wasn't enough. He held back a sob but powered through. He would save her, even if it meant killing himself.

Just as he felt the last of his power draining from his fingertips, a hand lay atop his, though really it did not touch him. Ben looked up and at the ghost of his uncle who simply nodded before closing his eyes.

Luke's hands were soon joined by Leia's. His mother was truly gone, only a Force Ghost now, but still she continued to use her powers for the fight and for good.

The two were soon surrounded by a multitude of Force Ghosts, some he recognized, some who were complete strangers, but all of them working to save Rey and their legacy. It wasn't long after that he felt the quite real hand of hers tightening around his.

Rey sat up and stared at Ben in wonder. "Ben," she whispered, almost as if she would wake herself from a dream.

"Rey," Ben breathed, allowing his tears to finally fall.

"You came. We did it."

Overcome with passion, the two embraced. They melted into each other, washed over by relief, exhaustion, joy, and something else. Rey could feel Ben smiling against her lips and couldn't help but smile in turn.

As they kissed, the ghosts blinked out one by one, finally able to rest.

###

Ben had been exiled, and that was fine by him. He had never been too fond of people and had grown used to being by himself. It hadn't even surprised him when General Dameron had suggested this, much to the dismay of Rey.

It didn't come as a shock that no one would forgive him of his crimes. He knew he had to atone and if it meant continuing to live in isolation then it would be a fitting punishment.

They hadn't said goodbye. They hadn't even had time to be alone and discuss what had transpired before he had been cuffed and shipped away. He supposed that was asking too much, to bid farewell to a friend—if they could be called that.

No, none of that was surprising. What was surprising though was the fact that Rey had decided to join him, albeit months later.

There was work to be done tying up the loose ends of the First and Final Orders—or so Rey had said. Ben had his suspicions that there was more to the story than that but didn't push. She had come to visit him on Tatooine, with Luke and Leia's lightsabers in hand.

"We should bury them," she proposed. "Bury the past don't you think?"

Ben could only nod. Things were definitely changing and although he wouldn't forget the past he could learn to move forward, with Rey, if she would let him.

They stood in silence, watching the lightsabers sink into the sand at the place where it all began. As the dust settled, the air crackled around them. They looked up to see the Skywalker twins standing before them. Behind them Anakin, whose smile was just as big as those of his children.

Beyond them, Rey and Ben looked at the setting of the binary suns, feeling a harmony in the Force that had not been known since a long time ago.


End file.
